Unknowns: Artists you should know

This piece is titled "Echinodermal Entropy" and was part of the group show "Unknowns: Artists You Should Know" at Kore Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a play on words between an echinoderm (marine animals with radial symmetry) and dermal, meaning skin. Echinoderms are found on the sea beds of every ocean depth and thus play a vital role in our oceans. My intention with this piece was not only to highlight the importance of this phylum, but to also share my connection with them. Echinoderms have appeared in many dreams over the years, mainly occurring when I was very young. Most often these creatures were attached to my body or overgrowing rapidly in tanks while I watched in horror. The most notable dream involved one attaching to my face permanently in some form of symbiosis. The dream left me with mixed feelings and the experience is imprinted in my memories. This inspired me to create a wearable, sculptural piece with the morphology of various echinoderms including brittle stars, feather stars, and sea cucumbers that take the shape of my own face. If you look at the piece at an angle, you can distinctly catch my facial profile.

The work is hand sculpted and shaped with PLA bioplastic and embellished with real foraged coral, beads, mica powder, UV reactive paint, and is mounted on a wire armature with driftwood and bleached coral at its base. The work is now part of a private collection in Portland, Oregon.